What Should You Do with That Parking Ticket?

Let’s be honest: no one ever wants to get a parking ticket. However, everyone seems to get one at least once in their lifetime. Before you decide to ignore it (which we don’t recommend), make sure you’re at least in the know of what might happen if you never pay up.

It’s also worth mentioning that punishments for ignored citations differ from one state or city to another. However, one thing is for sure: you might end with something way worse than just a small fine. Now, let’s see what we should expect to happen if we ignore that envelope left in front of our door.

Your fine will get bigger

You shouldn’t procrastinate on sending in the money. After all, parking tickets come with a certain deadline for the money, which is likely within two weeks or one month. Even if you had the best intentions but somehow you missed that cutoff date, you might get an extra penalty.

For example, in New York City alone, ignoring a parking ticket for over 90 days might add an extra $60 in penalties to your first ticket cost. After 100 days, you might have to pay 9 percent interest for every single year it goes unpaid.

In California, a late fine could mean paying a “civil assessment” of up to $300. If you’re way more worried about speeding tickets than parking fines, you should familiarize yourself with all the things that might get you a speeding ticket, apart from, well, speed.

Your car might get stuck

If you’re quite notorious for getting a lot of parking tickets (and more than that, for leaving them unpaid), it shouldn’t come as a shock if your vehicle gets towed or even “booted”, even if you’re not doing anything wrong. After all, the police have your license plate on file.

According to DC’s Department of Motor Vehicles, “Your vehicle could get booted if you have two or more outstanding parking and photo enforcement tickets, even if you’re technically parked at the time the car is booted.” In Seattle, you will need four or even more unpaid tickets before you even get stuck. Either way, you’ll need to pay up if you want it off.

You might lose your car altogether

Well, this one’s pretty obvious: if you decide to ignore a parking ticket for long enough, you might lose worse than just a couple hundred extra bucks. In all fairness, the state might seize your vehicle. In New York, for instance, the city holds auctions to sell vehicles that owners chose to give up instead of paying their fines.

You might end up in court

In some places such as Memphis, Tennessee, your parking tickets could already have court dates written on them. It sounds a bit hasty, doesn’t it? Well, if you pay within 15 days, you won’t even need to show up. Let it go, though, and you might have to clear your schedule for that hearing, and even prepare to pay the late fees tacked onto your original citation.

Collection agencies could get involved

Your city’s parking enforcement bureau doesn’t even want to deal with you forever until the end of dawn, let’s be honest. If that’s so, you should know that they might decide to hand your case over to a collection agency. Those debt collectors might inundate you with a bunch of letters, and phone calls, even on your office and cell number, or even show up at your home. When it comes to speeding, there’s no joke!

Your credit score could go down

Make sure you pay attention to the parking ticket debt, especially if you plan to buy a house one day. Having a debt collection show up on your account might look bad for your credit score, but unfortunately, it gets worse than that.

The parking violations bureau might even report your misdemeanor to a specific credit bureau, which is sure to harm your credit score. St. Petersburg, Florida, parking division manager Keith Glasgow explained that this kind of fine could put a dent in your attempts to buy a house. People will probably call to say “I’m trying to get a house, but I have a parking ticket. Can you please take it off?”

You might lose that money during tax season

Even if you think you’ve managed to outsmart those late fees by simply ignoring court summons and debt collectors’ calls, you might still get that large sum of money taken away from you. The city might ask the money you owe to be taken out of your state tax refund, so you might never see that extra cash you hoped to get back.

Your registration won’t be renewed

Your state’s Department of Motor Vehicles isn’t really in charge of collecting parking fines, but it could get involved anytime. The city might get in touch with the DMV, which would, in turn, refuse to renew the vehicle registration, and even suspend it before its time is fully up. Driving without any registration might lead to points on your license or higher car insurance rates.

What Can You Do if You Simply Can’t Pay Your Fines Right Now?

A couple of choices are accessible to you if for the moment paying your parking fines is simply too difficult. There are plenty of cities that provide low-income individuals and their families with all kinds of payment arrangements and lower penalties. If you think the ticket was somehow issued inadvertently, you could be entitled to challenge it in court.

In some circumstances, you could be allowed to complete community service instead of actually paying the penalty. But if you elect to challenge parking citations in court, it’s very important to remember that you might need to offer proof to back those claims, like pictures and quotes from witnesses.

It’s also very important to keep in mind that appealing a specific citation could prove to be quite time-consuming and could also include arduous trips to court.

Also, try to remember to stay as informed as you can about the parking policies in your neighborhood, especially if you want to avoid getting tickets in the first place. Read carefully any notices and pay attention to any time restrictions or other limitations as posted.

Consult the local government or parking authority for clarification, especially if you have additional questions regarding parking regulations. On top of that, there are other things to take into consideration. Parking citations are constantly given because of a specific cause, like parking in a prohibited area or staying way too long in a metered space.

Even if these regulations could appear quite random or arbitrary, they are always put in place for reasons of safety or simply to make sure that parking places are dispersed equally. Besides, parking offenses are quite a bigger issue, and that’s due to a load of unpaid parking citations.

City roadways could become quite crowded and hazardous, especially if motorists always disobey parking regulations and refuse to pay their fines.

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